WHAT HAS DR. HERNDON'S RESEARCH FOUND OUT ABOUT DEPRESSION? Dr. Herndon's research has shown that depression is a normal response in humans. Each year, most people have multiple episodes of mild depression, and most will experience at least one episode of severe depression at some point in their lives.
WHAT DOES DEPRESSION MEAN? The feeling of depression is actually our brain's attempt to "defend" us against psychological "threats"... threats such as worries, fears, anxieties, and self-doubts. The feeling of depression is our brain's warning that we are under attack. Depression, just like pain, is intended to serve a useful purpose. However, it can spiral out of control.
WHAT HAPPENS WHEN WE BECOME DEPRESSED? Chronic severe depression usually results from subconsciously "practicing" being under "attack" by these threats. Thus, severe depression is virtually always a learned behavior. In order to defeat it, we must "unlearn" the habit of creating psychological threats in our minds. (Dr. Herndon has also found that severe depression is highly associated with intelligence----that is, the more intelligent you are, the more prone you are to chronic severe depression.)
HOW DOES PDT WORK? When we suffer from chronic severe depression, we have a depression "habit". Dr. Herndon has designed Personalized Depression Therapy (PDT) to allow us to gradually "withdraw" from the feeling of depression. The goal is to replace the "depression-causing" actions, thoughts, and behaviors with "depression-defeating" actions, thoughts, and behaviors. Eventually, the depression is gone or drastically reduced.
